Two senior officials of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) visited U.S. Africa Command's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, May 16, 2011, to meet with AFRICOM staff and collaborate on areas of common interest.

Nigerian Brigadier General Hassan Lai, chief of staff for the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), and Malian Brigadier General Mahamane Toure, deputy executive secretary for political affairs, defense and security, ECOWAS, provided a briefing to U.S. Africa Command staff on the ECOWAS structure, and also how it contributes to the African Standby Force.

ECOWAS, Lai explained, is a regional group of 15 countries with the mission of promoting economic integration in the region. ECOWAS also provides military, civilian, and police support as part of the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF), one of five regional standby groups that comprise the African Standby Force (ASF).

The ESF also has a component called the Rapid Deployment Capability that can be called upon during a crisis to promote stability and provide humanitarian assistance. Most recently the ESF has been instrumental in mitigating the political crisis in Cote d'Ivoire following the post-election violence of 2010. They are also leading ECOWAS involvement in security reform in Guinea.

Lai added that all components--military, civilian, and police--are necessary to effectively respond to these types of crises which is why it's important to include them on their Rapid Deployment Capability team.

"In Cote d'Ivoire crisis, the military was called to help with the crisis. We felt we needed to have a formal police unit attached to the Rapid Deployment Capability should we require that asset. We needed to draw back and allow the police to perform their duties. Besides, they have the autonomy to prosecute, which the military hasn't," said Lai.

Also during the roundtable, the ECOWAS officials and AFRICOM staff discussed ways they can partner to address regional security issues in Africa. Regional organizations such as ECOWAS are critical to furthering peace and stability in Africa.

While in Stuttgart, Lai and Toure were joined by a Senegalese delegation and attended the Concept Development Conference for exercise Western Accord 12.